The present invention relates to a furnace and more specifically to a double compartment wood-fired furnace particularly adaptable for heating hot water for both domestic usage and heating purposes.
Furnaces and wood-burning furnaces are well known. However, in view of the energy shortage, particularly in the form of oil and gas, it has become increasingly popular, particularly in the wooded rural areas, to utilize the renewable wood supply as a heat source. Heating in a plurality of stoves produces uneven heat and the problem of ashes and dirt throughout the living quarters of a home. Therefore, it is particularly beneficial to utilize a centrally-located furnace, preferable situated in the basement or boiler room of the structure being heated. In view of the effort or expense required to gather wood, it is necessary that a wood-burning furnace be highly efficient and that as much heat as possible be made available from the wood. In order to achieve such efficiency, complete combustion and burning are necessary along with a high rate of absorption of the heat to the fluid media being used to transfer the heat to the various living quarters. It is also essential that such a furnace be easily stoked with wood and that the wood pieces utilized have a comparatively long length. It is further essential that the fire burn a long period of time on each load of wood while providing means for controlling the heat output.
A great deal of research has been done in the area of wood burning particularly the work done at the University of Maine. The instant invention utilizes the background from this research while improving upon it to produce an efficient wood-burning heating unit with complete combustion and high heat extraction.
These and various other problems were not satisfactorily resolved until the emergence of the instant invention.